New Hawai'i peer-reviewed medical journal presents inaugural issue

Partnership between UH Manoa medical school and the Hawai'i State Department of Health

The Hawaiʻi Journal of Medicine & Public Health has issued its first edition, marking a new collaboration between the John A. Burns School of Medicine at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and the Hawaiʻi State Department of Health (DOH).

"This new partnership is intended to improve communication among the medicine and public health communities, increase readership, and advance our expertise in areas of significant community interest," said Loretta Fuddy, DOH Director.

The new publication is a monthly, peer-reviewed journal published by University Clinical, Education & Research Associates (UCERA). The journal’s aim is to provide new, scientific information in a scholarly manner, with a focus on the unique, multicultural and environmental aspects of the Hawaiian Islands and Asia-Pacific region.

The latest issue includes research into topics as varied as betel nut use in Hawaiʻi, the incidence of dog bite injuries in American Samoa, and a student perspective on the joys and challenges of rural medicine. The January issue also includes a column on public health by the state health director Fuddy. The journal's editors are S. Kalani Brady, MD, and Michael J. Meagher, MD, who are advised by a board of a dozen Hawaiʻi health experts in academic medicine.

The new journal actually has a rich history. It represents the joining of what were formerly two separate journals: The Hawaiʻi Medical Journal (HMJ) and the Hawaiʻi Journal of Public Health. The HMJ was founded in 1941 by the Hawai‘i Medical Association (HMA), which itself was incorporated in 1856 under the Hawaiian monarchy. In 2009, HMA transferred the HMJ to UCERA. The public health journal, established in 2008, was a collaborative effort between the Hawaiʻi State Department of Health and the Office of Public Health Studies at the medical school.

The Hawaiʻi Journal of Medicine and Public Health is available on line at: http://hjmph.org/.